Definitely Not A Cop said:

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The AI won't let them. It's gone full primal and has everyone locked in system.

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I kind of figured it was something like that, but it's still bound by the rules. If they wanted to just surrender and let them win, they could have.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Definitely Not A Cop said:

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The AI won't let them. It's gone full primal and has everyone locked in system.

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I kind of figured it was something like that, but it's still bound by the rules. If they wanted to just surrender and let them win, they could have.

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No, you can't get out of the dungeon before that floor is over unless you get pregnant.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Definitely Not A Cop said:

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The AI won't let them. It's gone full primal and has everyone locked in system.

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I kind of figured it was something like that, but it's still bound by the rules. If they wanted to just surrender and let them win, they could have.

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Oh I see what you are saying, why don't the other faction wars leaders just surrender. For one thing, you get a big cash prize and you get to pick your zone first in the next season of faction wars if you win. But the real answer to your question is that if you surrender, you cede your forces to be conscripted to whichever force remains. The leaders know Carl will force them to kill themselves if they surrender. It's just as much of a survival game for them at this point as it is for the crawlers. Not to mention the AI hates ***** moves and would likely do something crazy in retaliation for something like that.

They could've negotiated with Carl. Tell him they'd surrender, cede the floor, and give all the crawlers token contracts to get out of the dungeon in exchange for letting them all live and letting the crawl end. Maybe sign contracts guaranteeing it. I think that's better than the alternative of dealing with the psychotic AI trapping them in the system, a death match with Carl, and shooting each other in orbit. Just blow through the ascendancy that kicks off right after, get in their ships, and GTFO.

The AI might see it as a ***** move, but it's still bound by all the rules.

Yeah I put it up there behind Butchers Masquerade. I could see how people could say it needed more breathing room though. It's was 700 pages of non-stop action.

Finally got my sister into it and she is on B7 now and about 30% in. She said she definitely thinks it is harder for her to stay focused as well. I think that plays into the overall complaints I've seen with it.

We all know he tries new themes/schemes with every book and the last was heavy on battle strategy. At least in the first half. Basically RTS game style. Something some people like my sister could give two flips about and just skim past. Another friend of mine didn't like the card game book. I glossed over the trains myself.

I think with this one though the theme took a more predominant role initially over character relations compared to the other books which felt more balanced between the two. I can how that may affect the overall readership to a degree.

Just a thought

Eliminatus said:

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Finally completed B1 audio.

For someone who was thought the were terminally unable to do audiobooks, it was great. My only complaint was a couple of the voices he did were real soft in timbre and kinda hard to hear for me. A couple of the systems voices iirc. But not terrible though and they were small bits. It's been great for gym sessions and drives and a nice departure from my usual ear melting death metal.

Picked up B2 and continuing on.

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I went back and listened to quite a bit of book 1 recently with my wife. I'm on book 5 myself. I noticed some of the voices were definitely different in book 1 and hard to understand. It definitely gets better.

Rule Number 32 said:

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Eliminatus said:

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Finally completed B1 audio.

For someone who was thought the were terminally unable to do audiobooks, it was great. My only complaint was a couple of the voices he did were real soft in timbre and kinda hard to hear for me. A couple of the systems voices iirc. But not terrible though and they were small bits. It's been great for gym sessions and drives and a nice departure from my usual ear melting death metal.

Picked up B2 and continuing on.

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I went back and listened to quite a bit of book 1 recently with my wife. I'm on book 5 myself. I noticed some of the voices were definitely different in book 1 and hard to understand. It definitely gets better.

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That was exactly what I was figuring. First book getting some stuff worked out and what works best and dial things in even more later on. I have no fears. Not that it is a big deal in the first place. Just a minor hindrance for my half deaf self.

Rule Number 32 said:

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Finished the butchers masquerade today. That last two events - insert mind blown emoji! Was not expecting that to happen. After book 3 I wasn't sure I was going to continue but book 4 and 5 were awesome.

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Do not know the thread existed! I also just finished book 5 this week. Agreed, book 3 was tough to get through. The Iron Tangle stuff was a slog. I think that if they hadn't kept it interesting with Katia and Helka, I would have bailed.

Glad others are into this one.

c-jags said:

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Rule Number 32 said:

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Finished the butchers masquerade today. That last two events - insert mind blown emoji! Was not expecting that to happen. After book 3 I wasn't sure I was going to continue but book 4 and 5 were awesome.

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Do not know the thread existed! I also just finished book 5 this week. Agreed, book 3 was tough to get through. The Iron Tangle stuff was a slog. I think that if they hadn't kept it interesting with Katia and Helka, I would have bailed.

Glad others are into this one.

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Funny so many people did not like Book 3 to the degree they do. Definitely the weakest book of the series, but I still enjoyed it. I guess I'm such a sucker for the characters and setting that I'd follow along to most anything that they could be doing. But yes, if people pull up anchor on book 3 then they are really missing out on the juiciest books yet.

I actually really liked book 3

Wrong forum

Book 3 was ok, and better than a ton of other books I've read. I just thought it got way too complicated and detailed and he tried to make everything make sense, which it doesn't at all. It just felt overly complex when it should have just moved along and kept the story going. Just my opinion and obviously it wasn't so bad that I didn't continue on. I just thought it was by far the least interesting level so far. Excited to see what the next two books hold.

For those of you who struggled with Book 3, I am curious as to whether you read it or listened to it.

MW03 said:

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For those of you who struggled with Book 3, I am curious as to whether you read it or listened to it.

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I've done both. It's easier to skim ahead the Iron Tangle description parts via book obviously. But also a little easier to grasp conceptually. At least for me.

Eliminatus said:

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Francis Macomber said:

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I really liked book 3, but I decided real early on that I wasn't going to even try to figure out how the floor works and instead just enjoy the ride.

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This is the way.

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Definitely this. Glad Dinnimam even commented on this on either a Goodreads or Reddit thread to avoid understanding the detail and logistics, rather than just ride with it. Saved me some brain cells.

StinkyPinky said:

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c-jags said:

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Rule Number 32 said:

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Finished the butchers masquerade today. That last two events - insert mind blown emoji! Was not expecting that to happen. After book 3 I wasn't sure I was going to continue but book 4 and 5 were awesome.

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Do not know the thread existed! I also just finished book 5 this week. Agreed, book 3 was tough to get through. The Iron Tangle stuff was a slog. I think that if they hadn't kept it interesting with Katia and Helka, I would have bailed.

Glad others are into this one.

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Funny so many people did not like Book 3 to the degree they do. Definitely the weakest book of the series, but I still enjoyed it. I guess I'm such a sucker for the characters and setting that I'd follow along to most anything that they could be doing. But yes, if people pull up anchor on book 3 then they are really missing out on the juiciest books yet.

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I dont think that people didn't like it, it's just that the book description is difficult to visualize. I can understand the bubble for book 4. I get the hunting grounds for book 5. The train lines and the station were just complicated to visualize in my opinion. Again I was nowhere near bailing, but I just skimmed a lot.

If I'm reading a historical book that has a section that slogs on I can handle it but for something like this I'm more likely to disengage.

c-jags said:

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StinkyPinky said:

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c-jags said:

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Rule Number 32 said:

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Finished the butchers masquerade today. That last two events - insert mind blown emoji! Was not expecting that to happen. After book 3 I wasn't sure I was going to continue but book 4 and 5 were awesome.

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Do not know the thread existed! I also just finished book 5 this week. Agreed, book 3 was tough to get through. The Iron Tangle stuff was a slog. I think that if they hadn't kept it interesting with Katia and Helka, I would have bailed.

Glad others are into this one.

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Funny so many people did not like Book 3 to the degree they do. Definitely the weakest book of the series, but I still enjoyed it. I guess I'm such a sucker for the characters and setting that I'd follow along to most anything that they could be doing. But yes, if people pull up anchor on book 3 then they are really missing out on the juiciest books yet.

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I dont think that people didn't like it, it's just that the book description is difficult to visualize. I can understand the bubble for book 4. I get the hunting grounds for book 5. The train lines and the station were just complicated to visualize in my opinion. Again I was nowhere near bailing, but I just skimmed a lot.

If I'm reading a historical book that has a section that slogs on I can handle it but for something like this I'm more likely to disengage.

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Unfortunately there are lots if people on reddit and online book forums that did not like it. In fact several abandoned the series altogether because it. Just mind boggling to me.

I get not liking it. I didn't like Avengers 2 but I saw the long game and stuck it out. Maybe it's because I came in late and had a friend that told me stick it out, but the author was up front about this book at the beginning and I feel like it was a mild irritation as opposed to something to bail entirely on.

I liked book 3. Thought it was better than book 4 Gate of The Feral Gods, actually.

In book 6 now. Not enough Samantha so far. She rolled off in the beginning. Sounds like I won't see her again until end of book.

YouBet said:

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I liked book 3. Thought it was better than book 4 Gate of The Feral Gods, actually.

In book 6 now. Not enough Samantha so far. She rolled off in the beginning. Sounds like I won't see her again until end of book.

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I agree

YouBet said:

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I liked book 3. Thought it was better than book 4 Gate of The Feral Gods, actually.

In book 6 now. Not enough Samantha so far. She rolled off in the beginning. Sounds like I won't see her again until end of book.

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I also find myself in the minority really liking book 3. Thought it was great. But then again thought they were all great

YouBet said:

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I liked book 3. Thought it was better than book 4 Gate of The Feral Gods, actually.

In book 6 now. Not enough Samantha so far. She rolled off in the beginning. Sounds like I won't see her again until end of book.

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I freaking loved Samantha!

I don't recall hearing the warning in the beginning of Book 3, but I made the conscious decision halfway through to just ride the train (pun intended) and not think too much about how it worked. On either the second or third re-read it clicked some on how it works and wasn't too bad. However, it's definitely not worth taking the time to figure it out.

Average Joe said:

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I don't recall hearing the warning in the beginning of Book 3, but I made the conscious decision halfway through to just ride the train (pun intended) and not think too much about how it worked. On either the second or third re-read it clicked some on how it works and wasn't too bad. However, it's definitely not worth taking the time to figure it out.

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Yeah, he has a forward where he tells you to ignore it and then puts a half-assed map of it halfway through the book which in no way represents how he has described it in the book. I thought that was funny. I think he did that as a joke

MW03 said:

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For those of you who struggled with Book 3, I am curious as to whether you read it or listened to it.

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I've been listening to them. I still enjoyed the overall story of three but it was really hard to figure out what was going on sometimes. I did a LOT more rewinding and relistening to parts on 3 than the others. Like I said above, it's still an awesome book, just my least favorite so far that I've read.

Beginning of book 6 I was a little leery that I wasn't going to love all the ghost stuff but it picked up really fast. It also helps that I've done WAY too much driving for work since I started 6 so I've been listening in longer chunks. When I was listening to 3 it was many shorter trips as opposed to 1+ hour chunks at a time.